Over heated the motor over the weekend and now it's a no start.
I have a mild built 351, in a fullsize bronco that races short course and pro area (Think tuff trucks)
I am not an engine gru, so I need help.
Engine is pretty much new with 3 races on it.

INJECTORS M-9593-A304 EV1/JETRONIC 24#
CAMSHSHAFT M-6250-A331 INT DUR (280) 204 @ 107ATDC LIFT .448
EXH DUR (290) 214@ 117 BTDC LIFT .472
HEADS M-6049-Y303 64CC INT 1.94" EXH 1.54" ALUM EO# D-308-3 SVO
LIFTERS M-6500-B303 HYDRAULIC
ROCKERS M-6564-A351 1.60:1 ROLLER

At the race this weekend, it overheated (I was in 2nd place and pushed it, I should of slowed down, but too bad so sad) to where it stalled on the track and would not re-fire.
In the pits I pulled all the plugs and sure enough, they were full of water, you could also feel the compression blowing out the radiator while I was cranking it.

I pulled the intake (Lighting lower, explorer upper) and did not find any cracks and the gaskets still looked good. I then did a compression check and had low numbers from 40-90 PSI with the intake off.
The head gaskets look 'meh' you can see some leakage at the rings, but not around the cooling ports.
I can't see any cracks at the heads, but I know you can't see a lot of them with the naked eye.
Only real way I could think of testing the rings was filling the cylinders with oil and seeing if they leaked down, they did not, is there a better way?
The piston bores don't show scoring.
I can't think of a way a cracked block would give them these symptoms, but I dunno.
All signs point to the heads, but I'm not sure I want to pay the $150 to have them looked at only to be told they are junk.
I'm very happy with the power it puts down, so I'm think either thinking flow tek heads or edelbrock heads 5023. (I'd rather put money into suspension then power)
Would it even be worth it to pay $400 (Guessing) for someone to restore these SVO heads if that's the issue?

 

Sounds like you warped the heads. It's possible the rings are gone too, since an overheat can make the rings lose their tension. At the very least you would need to do a dingle-ball hone and re-ring the pistons, and then have the heads resurfaced. It shouldn't cost much to have them magnafluxed for cracks before doing anything with them.

 

Sounds like heads to me as well. Its always nice to go for.new heads but, like you said, would rather not spend a whole lot. Maybe look at the local parts yards. Thats what ive been doing. What mods have you done to suspension for this kind of abuse? Really curious lol

 

My gut is that when you pushed it you lifted the heads enough to blow the gaskets. A leak down test would have told you more than a compression test. Sounds like an expensive game and it is your turn to pay. A shop might help you some on the costs of heads and such if you ask for help. Sometimes they have heads and blocks, etc, lying around taking up space.

 

How hot are we talking from the overheat? what caused the overheating?

 

Thanks! I packed up a head to drop it off at the machine shop today.

What caused it?
One of the laps I felt water hit my hands, and when I looked at the temp gauge it was hot, I thought nothing of it, and slowed down. After a 1/2 of lap, the temp grage dropped again and I took off, until the motor stalled.
After getting towed back, I noticed the radiator cap was gone, so I'm assuming it jarred off and that was the drop of water I felt. With no more water in it, the gauge would stop reading, thus making me think it was all ok again.

THe truck is pretty simple, it's just built for up travel, pie cut the beams, and lighten it.
When I first cut it again, I took close to 2,000 lbs of scrap to the dump.